Computers and computing systems have affected nearly every aspect of modern living. Computers are generally involved in work, recreation, healthcare, transportation, entertainment, household management, etc. Computers also provide significant benefits in inventory management and shipment. For example, computer systems are able to leverage large databases of inventory information in conjunction with real-time data relating to shipping conditions, product attributes, and other shipping aspects. This unique technological combination provides significant benefits when determining how best to ship items.
Conventional shipping management applications and inventory management applications are able to prepare items for shipment and track those items once they have shipped. In conventional systems, however, these shipping routes typically deal with a single transport vector. For example, a single shipper or a small subsection of shippers may be available within a given system. The limited numbers and complexity of transport vectors allows for simple applications and systems for managing inventory and shipping.
The explosion of online retail, however, has created a need for far more complex and efficient shipping systems. For example, a company may originate shipments from all around the world and may use a large number of providers for different parts of the shipping journey. Identifying optimizations within these systems and exploiting those optimizations requires tools that are not currently available on the market.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one exemplary technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced.